Breathing Under Pressure: How Climate Change and Air Pollution Shape Global Respiratory Health
Breathing Under Pressure: How Climate Change and Air Pollution Converge to Shape Global Respiratory Health Professional Summary (for Academic & Policy Dissemination) This comprehensive narrative review synthesizes current evidence on the intertwined impacts of air pollution and climate change on respiratory health, highlighting a rapidly escalating global public health challenge. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature published between 2020 and mid-2023, the authors systematically examine how environmental exposures—particularly particulate matter (PM₂.₅/PM₁₀), ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and sulfur dioxide (SO₂)—interact with climate-driven factors such as rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and altered humidity patterns to exacerbate respiratory morbidity and mortality. A central contribution of this work lies in its integrated framework, which moves beyond isolated exposure models to emphasize synergistic and feedback effects between climate change and air pollution. Heatwaves, wildfires, temperature inversions, and changing precipitation patterns are shown to intensify pollutant formation and dispersion, amplifying risks for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allergic rhinitis, respiratory infections, and lung cancer. Importantly, the review underscores biological mechanisms—including oxidative stress, airway inflammation, epithelial barrier dysfunction, and immune dysregulation—that provide mechanistic plausibility for observed epidemiological associations. The authors place particular emphasis on vulnerable populations, including children, older adults, and individuals with pre-existing respiratory disease, who bear a disproportionate share of the health burden. Geographic disparities are also highlighted, with urbanization, regional climate variability, and policy environments shaping exposure patterns and health outcomes. Looking forward, the review outlines projected challenges over the coming decades, warning that without effective mitigation and adaptation strategies, climate change may substantially increase ozone-related respiratory deaths and allergic disease burden. Overall, this review delivers a timely, policy-relevant synthesis that reinforces the need for integrated climate and air-quality governance, strengthened public health infrastructure, and targeted protection of high-risk populations. It provides a strong evidence base for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers seeking to align respiratory health strategies with climate action priorities. APA (7th Edition) Citation of the Source Tran, H. M., Tsai, F.-J., Lee, Y.-L., Chang, J.-H., Chang, L.-T., Chang, T.-Y., Chung, K. F., Kuo, H.-P., Lee, K.-Y., & Chuang, H.-C. (2023). The impact of air pollution on respiratory diseases in an era of climate change: A review of the current evidence. Science of the Total Environment, 898, 166340. Suggested Professional Hashtags #ClimateChange #AirPollution #RespiratoryHealth #PublicHealth #EnvironmentalHealth #Asthma #COPD #LungCancer #HealthEquity #ClimateAction #Science #Environment #CleanAir #PM25 #HealthEducation © 2025 AI Chavelle™ by Jeffrey Chen / SmartRad AI. All rights reserved.
